Air-circulating means for refrigerator cars



Sept. 27, 1927.

G. A. HULL 7 AIR CIRCULATING MEANS FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS [/7061 210960ly6 (ZHaZ 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 11. 1924 1,643,892 Sept. 27,1927. A. HULL AIR CIRCULATING MEANS FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed Dec. 11.1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 27, 1927. G A HULL 1,643,892

AIR CIRCULATING MEANS FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed Dec. 11, 1924 3Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. HULL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO EQUIPMENT SPECIALTIESCO., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

AIR-CIRCULATING MEANS FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS.

Application filed December 11, 1924. Serial No. 755,200.

The present invention relates to air circulating means for refrigeratorcars.

In the operation of these cars a difficult problem is encountered inobtaining an adequate circulation of cold air tothe perishable producewhich is packed in the central portion of the car. As is well known tothose acquainted with refrigerator car construction, the ice for coolingthe car is packed in ice compartments located at the ends of the car andthe perishable produce is packed in the main compartment which extendsbetween these ice compartments and constitutes the greater portion ofthe car length. Each end bulkhead which separates the ice compartmentfrom the main compartment is open at top and bottom. and it is intendedthat a thermal circulation of cold air be set up from the icecompartment, under the floor rack in the main compartment, up throughthe perishable commodities, and back through the ice compartment overthe top of the bulkhead. This thermal circulation generally suffices forthe end portions of the main compartment which are in close proximity tothe bulkheads, but the produce which is packed in the intermediateportion of the car frequently receives but a very small part of thiscooling circulation of air. As a result of this condition. considerablequantities of perishable produce often spoil in the intermediate portionof the car.

The primary object of the present invention is to correct this conditionby providing means for stimulating or creating a forced circulation ofthe cooling air into these central portions of the car. This I achievewithout the necessity of complicated operating mechanism and with eachcar remaining a complete operative unit. More particularly. Icontemplate using the motion of the car to operate a circulating fan,pump or other element for creating this induced circulation. Themechanism for utilizing the motion of the car operates with the cartravelling in either direction, and, in the embodiment herein disclosed,it is also operative to utilize whatever breeze may be blowing while thecar is standing still.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated apreferred embodiment of my invention:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View through one end of arefrigerator car, to which my invention has been adapted;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the same, takensubstantially on the plane of line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary and elevational View of the car, showing thelateral location of each power fan;

Figure 1 is a detail sectional view through the power fan mechanismlocated outside of the car;

Figure 5 is an isolated sectional view through the locking mechanism forthe outer power fan;

.Figure 6 is an inverted plan view of a modified construction, and

Figure 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1, show ing a modified mounting ofthe inner-circulating fan.

The typical refrigerator car illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 comprises aflooring 8, end walls 9, side walls 11 and roof 12. Below this roof 12there is usually provided a false roof or ceiling 10, forming a dead airspace in the upper part of the car.

Side doors 13 afford access to the main compartment of the car, and theusual hatchways in the top of the car afford openings for filling theice compartments.

These ice compartments 14 are located at the extreme ends of the car,being separated from the main compartment '15 by bulkheads 16. These icecompartments are usually provided with transverse bars 17 forming anopen flooring. and have wire screen sides 18 for supporting the ice sothat air can circulate down through and around the ice. Supported on thefloor 8 in the main compartment 15 are floor racks 21, upon which theperishable commodities are packed. These floor racks form a lower zone22 'between the produce and the floor of the car for the circulation ofcold air under the produce.

The bulkhead 16 has a lower opening 23 extending transversely of thecar, through which the cold air, chilled by permeating down through theice, is drawn through the lower zone 22 and around the lower part ofcirculate down through the ice compartment.

A thermal circulation is set up from the ice compartment 14 down throughthe lower bulk head opening 23, through the lower zone 22, under thefloor rack, up through the perishable commodities, and back along theunderside of the upper panelling 10, through the upper bulkhead opening24, down into the ice compartment. There is a tendency for this thermalcirculation to be confined tothat part of the main compartprovide aseparate fan for each end of the car so that the circulation establishedby each fan will be individual to its respective ice compartment. I haveshown only one of these fans and its associated operating mechanism,because the fan for the other end of the car is merely a; duplicationthereof. 7

This fan is preferably located in close proximity to the false roof 10,where it will not interfere with the packing of produce crates to theusual height in the car.- As

. shown in Figure 2, the fan isv also offset to ill one side of the carso that the outer operatunit for propelling the circulating fan wi 1 notinterfere with the upper runway 27 extending along the top of the car.

The air drawn upwardly by the fan is projected into a sheet metal duct28 which is in the form of an open trough closed at sides and bottom andwhich is secured to the underside of the false roof 10. This circulatingduct '28 extends along one side of the car towards the end thereof,where it is flared laterally as indicated at 29 for distributing the aircurrents across the entire top of the ice compartment. The opening inthis circulating duct in which the fan operates has adepending flange 31which houses the fan and protects it from injury in the packing andunpacking of the car.

' The fan is secured to a vertical operating shaft 32 which extends upthrough a bearing 33 supported on the false roof 10, and up throug abearing 34 on the outer roof 12.

For minimizing the heat conductivity of this shaft 32 it is preferablybroken into two packing 5O surrounding the shaft.

sections at a point below the false roof 10, these two sections beingprovided with collars 30 which are connected through a heat insulatingdisk 40. The bearing 33 is also preferably provided with a heatinsulating The upper end of the shaft carries a bevel pinion 35 whichmeshes with a relatively larger of the rod carries a lockin bevel gear36 mounted on the driving shaft 37 of a propelling fan'38. The fan 38 isadapted to be pointed into the wind by a rear vane 39, and to permit ofthis swinging of the fan, the same has bearing support in a housing 41which is arranged for swivelling about the axis of the vertical shaft32. The upper end of the bearing 34 has a reduced portion 42 whichconstitutes a vertical trunnion on Which this housing 41 is journalled.The housing may be of any desired construction for supporting thepropeller fan shaft 37 and for housing the gears 35 and 36. Asillustrative of an advantageous construction, I have shown a housingwhich is split Vertically into two symmetrical halves adapted to bebolted together over the shaft bearings and over the trunnion portion42. Secured between these housing sections are two bearing bushings 44and 45 for the front and rear ends of the horizontal shaft 37. Anotherbearing bushing 46 is clamped between the housing sections at the bottomthereof for bearing support on the reduced trunnion portion 42 of thestandard 34. The two housing sections are joined by bolts or rivets 47,and the vane 39 may be secured to lugs 48 projecting from these housingsections by bolts 51.

For protecting this outer propelling unit against injury, I proposehousing the same in a circular wire cage 53 which may be secured to theroof of the car through attachment to a circular angle ring 54. Thisring is preferably spaced from the roof of the car so that it will notact as a cinder trap. In addition to pointing the propelling fan 38 inthe direction of motion of the car, the vane 39 will point thispropelling fan into any breeze which may happen to be blowing when thecar is standing still. Thus the circulating fan 26 will generally be inoperation a greater part of the time, the car being moving or standingstill. To compensate for the reactive effort of the gear 36 tending torevolve around the gear 35, the vane 39 may be set at a slight obliquityto the axis of the fan 38 in the proper direction for maintaining theaxis of the fan pointed into the wind. The interior of the housing 41may contain a lubricating oil or grease for lu ricating the bearingbushings 44, 45 and 46 and the gears 35 and 36. At certain times, aswhen the car is travelling under ventilation in cold weather, it may bedesirable to stop the fan against idle running. This I have provided forthrough a'brake rod which extends down through the center of the screenguard 53 and through the top of the gear housing. The lower end fork 61which has polygonal inner sides a apted to engage tending pin 63 whichis movable up and down in a vertical slot 64 extending to one side ofthe bore through which passes the rod 60. This pin prevents the descentof the locking fork at any other than the proper angle to engage overthe hub 62. lVhen the fan is to be released, the rod 60 is raisedthrough the upper ring 65 until the pin 63 clears the top of the slot64, whereupon the rod 60 is turned and the pin 63-is dropped into thesecondary slot 66.

It will be noted that the bevel gear 36 is considerably larger than thebevel pinion 35- for the purpose'of imparting an increased rotativespeed to the shaft 32 sothat the circulating fan 26 will operate under ahigher efficiency. This rotative speed of the circulating fan 26 may befurther increased through an arrangement of gearing, such as shown inFig. 6/ Here a bearing hanger 56 is extended across the fan opening 31below the circulating duct 28, or transversely of this fan opening,either above or below the false roof 10. The vertical operating shaft 32is offset from theiaxis of the fan 26 and has bearing support in thisbearing hanger 56. Either above or below this bearing hanger thisoperating shaft 32 carries a relatively large spur gear 57 which mesheswith aspur pinion 58 on the fan shaft 59, also journalledin the bearinghanger 56.

Vhere two separate circulating units are employed in each car for theseparate ice compartments 14, it is preferable that one circulating fandraw from a point along one side wall and the other circulating fan froma point along the other side wall. Hence, the other unit not disclosedinFig. 2 would preferably be disposed adjacent the lower or oppositeside of the car with its circulating duct 28 extending along thisopposite side to its individual ice compartment 14.

As an alternative construction, the inner circulating fan may besupported in a vertical plane to operate either with or without an airduct for propelling the air horizontally along the upper part of thecar. Fig. 7 illustrates such disposition of the circulating fan inassociation with an air duct. The fan 26 is supported in a verticalplane on a horizontal shaft 71 which has bearing support in two spacedbearing hangers 72 and 73 depending from the roof paneling 10. Arelatively small bevel gear 74 on the shaft 71 meshes with a relativelylarge bevel gear 75 on the vertical drive shaft 32, whereby a relativelyhigh rotative speed is transmitted to the circulating fan. This fan maybe employed with or without the air duct 28; where the air duct isemployed it has a downwardly flared entrance 7 6 which closely embracesthe fan and which supports a bearing 77 for the lower end of the shaft32.

It will be apparent that the essence of my invention can be practiced byvarious along one side of the car, one end of said duct being flaredlaterally to distribute the conveyed air across substantially the entirewidth of said ice compartment, a downwardly facing opening in the otherend of said duct, a circulating fan rotating in said opening for drawingthe air upwardly from the central portion of the car and circulating itthrough said duct towards said ice compartment, an operating shaftextending out through the roof of said car, said circulating fan beingmounted on said shaft, and a pro pelling fan supported on the roof ofthe car and to one side of the central runway and operatively connectedto said shaft for driving the same.

2. In a railroad refrigerator car, the combination of a maincompartment, an ice compartment at one end thereof, a ceiling in saidmain compartment, a circulating duct comprising a sheet metal membersecured to said ceiling and having one horizontal wall and two sidewalls, said duct being defined between the walls of sheet metal memberand said ceiling and flaring laterally to discharge the conveyed airover substantially the entire width of said ice compartment, a verticalaligned opening in said circulating duct, a vertical aligned circulatingfan in said opening, an operating shaft extending from said circulatingfan up through the roof of the car to one side of the central runway, abearing secured to the roof of the car and through which said operatingshaft passes, a housing swivelled on said bearing, a propelling fan.journaled on a horizontal axis in said housing, bevel gears in saidhousing operatively connecting said propelling fan with said shaft, adirecting vane connected to said housing for pointing said propellingfan in the plane of the wind, a foraminous guard enclosing saidpropelling fan and directing the vane, and means operable from theoutside of the refrigerator car for looking said propelling fan againsteffective operat1on.

3. In a refrigerator car, an air circulating system consisting of a maincompartment, an exposed ice chamber comprising a crosssection of the endof said car, a bulkhead enclosing and protecting said ice chamber,

-said bulkhead having openings permitting access of air in the maincompartment through the bottom and top of the same, a cold air ductextending under and permitting air access to all of the floor area, andan air duct located on said ceiling to direct the flow of air over thetop area of saidice chamber, said latter air duct being flared laterallyto distribute air across substantially the entire Width of said icechamber.

4. In a refrigerator car, an air circulating system consisting of a maincompartment, an exposed ice "chamber comprising a crosssection of theend of said car, a'bulkhead enclosing and protecting said ice chamber,said bulkhead having openin'gs permitting access of air in the maincompartment through the bottom and top of the same, a

cold air duct extending under and permitting air access to all of thefloor area, air propelled means located on the ceiling at a point remotefrom said ice chamber to stimulate air circulation toward said chamber,

an air duct located on said ceiling to convey air to the top of said icechamber, said air duct being flared at the end adjacent the ice chamberto distribute air across substantially the entire Width of said icechamber.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 9th day ofDecember, 1924.

GEORGE A. HULL.

